Our 4 month old shepherd/greyhound female puppy is starting to bite us when we try to pet her, she will try to chew on our wrists as we pet her or our kid's ankles. We give her lots of chew toys, but lately she gets all excited and is trying to bite us.

Is this just teething or something else. She is usually very calm. Is this just her way of being happy to see us?

Answer:

Christine,

What an interesting combination -- Shepherd/Greyhound. Your puppy sounds delighted to see you and is showing you so by her behaviour.

First of all your puppy is growing in leaps and bounds and requires an awful lot of exercise. Hands, ankles and feet make for interesting targets when a puppy is restless, so you might want to try playing "fetch" with your puppy with a ball or toy several times a day to get rid of a lot of the pent up energy. This way no hands are involved.

It is only natural to want to pet your puppy but in this case, it would be better to wait until it's calm. For instance, when a puppy wakes up, it's quiet so that's the time to pet it. As soon as it starts to wiggle, stop petting it. Playing with the puppy for short periods of time is best because you can't play with it all day long and it needs to know that. Your crate is a safe haven so after petting and playing (without hands involved) this is where it should go. Try throwing a toy or a treat into the crate and quickly close the door and say, "Good Doggie" and walk away. Yelping, whining, barking, etc., should be ignored.

Please don't get discouraged as you may have to repeat all of the above mentioned many times. Remember to always be consistent and persistent when training your puppy.

Your puppy biting is somewhat normal, although not very exceptable, and can be stopped. I have had the pleasure of raising 12 dogs, all of who live with me now. I have had this problem with at least 10 of them. What I do is this, if the puppy starts to bite, I deepen my voice and simply say, "No, don't bite." Most times this works, if not I ever so gently tap quickly once or twice with the pad of my finger on the bridge of the pups nose and say again, "No, don't bite." Never hit or yell loudly at your dog. And when I say gently tap, I mean very gently. This method has worked every time for me, and does not traumatize the puppy one bit.